''It was hit the ball, drag Arnie _ Arnold Palmer

''It was hit the ball, drag Arnie _ Arnold Palmer

DENNE H. FREEMAN

Apr. 12, 1997

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) _ Arnold Palmer played like a weekend hacker, but his fans wouldn't have cared if he shot 100.

They just wanted to see The King walking the hills of Augusta National Golf Club.

They were just happy he had defeated cancer. They wanted to tell him so with applause on every green, every fairway, every tee.

Palmer, 67, tried to give them a show even though he was ``embarrassed'' by the way he hit the ball.

He ran halfway up the imposing hill on the 18th fairway.

The crowd broke into loud cheers and applause.

``I wanted to run all the way to the green, but I thought about that and decided not to do it,'' Palmer said. ``All day long it was hit the ball, drag Arnie ... hit the ball, drag Arnie.''

He figured his fans deserved something extra because of what he put them through for the second consecutive day. This time it was a 15-over-par 87 to go with his opening 89, the highest score he had ever made in the Masters.